One would hope that STEM schools would lead in re-establishing a meritocratic hiring standard in higher ed, given the need for excellence in hard sciences and the goods and services they produce. This leadership in deletership (apologies) appears to be the case, with MIT doing away with a diversity statement for its faculty applicants. (The statements were, at best, a waste of time, and, at worst, used to recruit for ideological traits rather than establishing candidate quality and discriminate against “overrepresented groups” such as Asians and Jews.)
James Lynch reports for National Review:
MIT will no longer require diversity statements in its faculty-hiring process, making it the first elite university to abandon the practice.
The decision was made by MIT president Sally Kornbluth, with support from the school’s provost and six academic deans, a spokesperson told National Review on Sunday afternoon.
“My goals are to tap into the full scope of human talent, to bring the very best to MIT, and to make sure they thrive once here,” Kornbluth said in a statement provided to NR. “We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but compelled statements impinge on freedom of expression, and they don’t work.”
A school with MIT’s reputation will likely sway others to reconsider what they most need from their faculty. May other schools join in and do away with the diversity statements’ affront to merit.